My wife is German and she has lost both her brother and father to cancer. We watched German society provide to her family what should be a fundamental right in the US too - quality care that is affordable. Why can't the wealthiest country in the world make this also a priotity? This has to change!!

My father has Multiple Schlerosis. Some of the many ways it manifests itself are with his balance, cognitive abilities and fatigue. His job ended (after 33 years) due to outsourcing and he won't qualify for Medicare for 3 more years. In the meantime, he has been unable to find another job with his health problems and his medical costs are thousands of dollars a month for the Interferon shots he needs to take to keep the disease from accelerating too quickly.

As self employed people, we cannot afford health care for our family. We have it for our 2 children only, and it is a very high premium for poor coverage. We make too much for assistance, not enough to afford it ourselves. I have tried to find a decent individual plan for us, but what we can afford does not cover our needs. We would be bankrupt if we had a medical problem arise so we need to do something. Plans are so complicated that you usually don't know what the charge is until weeks later when you see a bill- even after you've paid... (more)

I am extremely concerned about the high costs of health care. I am lucky and get my health care through my employer. But what about my nephews and nieces who work in jobs that don't get have health care because their jobs don't provide it and they can't afford it. We need a way to curb the high health care costs and to enable every day people to get quality health care. We all have that right. It is about equality and justice for everyone in this country!

President Obama, I work at a small firm with less than ten people. While, health insurance is offered, it is really expensive. Now, I understand that I'm not doing great, but $70,000 a year isn't horrible. After taxes and deductions for 401k (not even maxing it out, which I would like to do), that boils down to roughly $1,600 every two weeks. If I were to have to buy insurance from my employer for my family of four, it would cost roughly $500 every two weeks, or 31% of my take-home pay. We are a dual income family and my wife... (more)

To all it may concern, In short, just last week a co-worker told me about her mother who is a kidney transplant receipient. This woman was laid-off from her job with a national home supply store last summer and now has run out of any and all benefits; can't get a job, can't get healthcare and has another 4 months before she turns 62 and can get some help from Medicade. In the mean time her anti-rejection medication will cost $1800.00 per month! Of course she doesn't have that kind of money and family and friends are also strapped. This... (more)

Our health care system is very penny-wise and pound foolish (actually, not even penny-wise), and so insane my husband and I have actually discussed moving to another country to enjoy better health care. My mother died of breast cancer, and watching her deal with insurance companies and make choices to keep her health care was disheartening, to say the least. I am worried I may have another cyst on my ovary (I had one removed during a c-section with my firstborn), and I'm afraid to even have it checked out for fear we'll lose our health... (more)

I am self-employed and buy private health insurance for my family of four including myself. Every year, or half-year, my health care costs go up throughout all the different companies we have a plan with. We are all healthy - I never go to the doctor, my wife goes once a year, and my kids go for check ups, vaccinations, and the occasional mild illness. This cycle has to stop! We cannot afford this and have already cut so much of our budget in order to keep our health care. If nothing changes, we may have to just give up.

"I am not my brother's keeper, I am my brother." Your health care story is mine.

We need single payer universal health care. Private insurors can offer additional coverage or can compete, but we need universal single payer health care now!

My wife's business partner had breast cancer and could not afford health insurance. She was barely able to raise enough funds for the first round of treatment (chemo) and now must forgo follow up chemo treatment as the cost is prohibitive. She can only afford "alternative" medicine and is hoping that these cheaper treatments will be effective.

As a high school techer with a famuly of four, I am forced to pay 1/3 of my salary for health care premiums. Not having insurance is not an option for us-as I have been managing a chronic form of Leukemia for 18 years.

I am a disability examiner for the State of Colorado. Every day I read medical records about chronically ill Coloradans who can not afford life saving treatments like a PET scan to diagnose cancer, biopsies and other studies. Over and over again I have read about people who are not able to pay for what they desperately need. Congress needs to do something about this. People are dying because they don't have insurance and that is so wrong on many levels. Please help the people of Colorado and throughout the US get the health care coverage... (more)

My mother had neck surgery a few years ago and soon after discovered the doctor did the wrong procedure and her pain only increased as a result. Her then insurance company did not approve surgery to reverse the procedure and then decided to not cover the $40K expense associated to it (Conventry Insurance). My mother had to hire an attorney to sue the company. Eventually her employer switched insurance companies and the new provider immediately approved both the reversal and new procedure with no hassle. How can two companies operate so... (more)

I have a younger friend who today is a successful young adult in a tech job because his learning difference was diagnosed through a government sponsored pre-school program. How many others were not so fortunate? Let's have health care for all Americans - including prevention incentives. Kent Ira Groff

The United States is so behind in the times concerning healthcare compared to other countries. Why do we make it so difficult to get decent, accessible care? Every individual and child needs to have access to quality care regardless of income. We need equality. Why does disparity even exist regarding this issue? We also need to have access to "non-traditional" modalities as a part of our healthcare system, as we progress in the 21st century it is imperative that we are able to afford all available forms of healthcare including:... (more)

I was recently laid off. I was the income and insurance provider for our family of 4. My husband is a full-time student. We are desparately searching for healthcare for our 4-year-old and 2-year-old sons. We have EXCELLENT providers, I just pray we can keep affording to see them!

I am an educator and I'm insured through my school district. However, over the last few years the district health insurance costs have gone up and the quality of service continues to decrease. In frustration I tried to go outside the district network to get insurance- however, since I have RA I was unable to get outside insurance from ANYONE because of my "pre-existing" condition. So frustrating! It feels horrible not to have any control over your healthcare. Where is my choice? Where is my voice? Please help me feel empowered again.

My husband lost his job and he has no health insurance. He is 44 yrs. old and I often wake up in the middle of the night afraid that something, anything could happen that would affect his health (car accident, falling down stairs, catastrophic disease). If this would happen we would be absolutely destroyed. We're barely making it now and we have to live with this fear everyday.

My wife is a physician and has severe migraine headaches. I have not been able to find a job in the Denver area working for a company as a psychologist. She has been denied by 5 different insurance companies in the past six months. The system is very broken. The people who need the help the most are the ones who can't get health insurance.